


Being Accepted

by Serena_chan



Category: NCIS
Genre: First Kiss, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-12
Updated: 2011-08-12
Packaged: 2017-10-22 13:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/238351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serena_chan/pseuds/Serena_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony finally gets tired of always being dismissed and unappreciated by his boss.  He confronts him, and it is then that he learns about Gibbs's true feelings for him.  (Takes place anytime during seasons 1 or 2.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Being Accepted

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is one of the first stories I ever wrote for this fandom. Admittedly, it's not my best work, but it was a good way to start familiarizing myself with the characters.
> 
> Also can be read at my LiveJournal page: [here](http://hourglass244.livejournal.com/8012.html).
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Tony stared nervously across the bullpen, empty save for Gibbs. He tapped his pen nervously, repeatedly glancing around the darkened office as though he expected to find Kate or McGee spying on him from the shadows.

 

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, he spoke. “Hey, boss, can I talk to you about something?”

 

Gibbs sighed, standing up and stretching. “Can it wait till tomorrow, DiNozzo?”

 

“Well, it’s kind of important.” Tony could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

 

“Tell me about it on the way down to the garage, then,” Gibbs said, pulling on his coat.

 

Tony glanced at the clock; 11:15. He probably should be getting home, too. His boss waited while he put on his coat and scarf and shoved some papers into his bag. Gibbs pressed the down button on the elevator, and they stepped on.

 

“Now,” Gibbs said. “What’s so damn important?”

 

“Well, boss, uh,” Tony began to stutter nervously. “T-The thing I wanted to ask, um—”

 

“Spit it out, DiNozzo!” Gibbs barked, tired and not in the mood for the younger agent’s rambling.

 

“The few times that you’ve complimented me,” Tony managed in a low voice. “Did…did you mean it?”

 

“What?” Gibbs was looking annoyed, but Tony pressed on.

 

“I mean, you act like I’m a newbie the way you’re constantly checking up on me and criticizing the way I do things. I know I’ve only been here three years, but I was at the Baltimore PD for two years before this, Peoria PD for six months and Philly PD for a year and a half before that. I’ve been in law enforcement a long time, and I’ve certainly been here a hell of a lot longer than Kate or McGee. You treat them better than you’ve ever treated me! If I’m a bad agent, then why don’t you just fire me?”

 

The elevator dinged, signaling their descent was nearing the parking garage. Gibbs reached over and flipped the emergency stop switch.

 

“Where the hell is this coming from?” he shouted.

 

Tony sighed, leaning against the railing for support. “Remember a few weeks ago, when I was chained to Jeffrey White? Kate told me what you said.”

 

“What?”

 

“You said that you were worried about the case…not me. You told her not to confuse the two.” Tony’s voice softened with pain as he stared across at the man he had so long idolized. “If the situation were reversed, would you have denied that you were worried about Kate?”

 

Gibbs’s eyes flashed with anger. “Listen, DiNozzo—”

 

“No, you listen!” Tony heaved himself away from the elevator wall and squared his shoulders.

 

Ordinarily, the look in his boss’s eyes alone would have been enough to have him shaking in his boots, not to mention his commanding tone of voice. But Tony’s emotions seemed to be ruling his head much more than usual today. Actually, they seemed to have taken over his whole body.

 

“I’ve spent the better part of three years blindly following your orders—trusting you; never second-guessing. I work just as hard, if not harder than, Kate and McGee. I’ve always done my best, even though my best never seems to be good enough for you. When Kate does her best, she gets a ‘good work.’ All I get is a slap on the head.”

 

“The only difference I can see between myself, Kate, and McGee is that they were hand picked for your team by you, whereas I was assigned to you by Director Morrow. Is that why you see me differently? Because you wouldn’t have selected me for your team if Director Morrow hadn’t asked you to take me on?”

 

Gibbs’s expression was stunned. “It wasn’t like that, Tony.”

 

“No?” Tony spat out sarcastically. “Then why am I always treated worse than the others? You certainly can’t pretend that you don’t play favorites.”

 

“I guess I can’t.” Gibbs looked away. His expression was…uncomfortable. Normally, Tony would have taken the opportunity to drink in this rare moment of vulnerability coming from his boss, but at the moment he was too angry and upset to care.

 

“I’m not asking you to like me,” Tony sighed. “I’m just asking you to see me on the same level as you see Kate and McGee.”

 

Gibbs’s whole body tightened. He looked poised, ready for action of some kind—fight or flight. At last he grunted out, “I…can’t.”

 

“Why not?!” Tony screamed, pain and anger flaring in his chest. “Why don’t you care about me the way you do them?”

 

Gibbs sprang into action, lunging forward. Tony braced himself to be struck, but the blow never came.

 

Rough hands grabbed his wrists with bruising force, pinning them on either side of his head while slamming him almost violently against the elevator wall. Lips met his in a sloppy kiss, laced with desperation. Tony’s mind froze in shock as chapped lips moved against his own, stubble scraping his cheek.

 

Pulling back just enough to look him in the eyes, Gibbs fixed him with a look Tony had never seen before. Hot breath puffed against his mouth, and the tips of their noses were still touching.

 

Gibbs’s voice was rough. “The next time you think I don’t care about you, DiNozzo…you remember this.”

 

He leaned forward as though he were going to kiss him again before growling low in his throat and heaving himself away from the younger man. He flicked off the emergency stop switch, and before Tony’s brain could form a comprehensive thought, the doors slid open and Gibbs was walking away toward his car.

 

Tony’s knees finally gave out, and he slid down the elevator wall to sit on the floor, watching as the doors closed, blocking his view of his retreating boss. His heart was pounding in his chest, and the only thought that kept racing through his mind was, _Where the hell did that come from?_

 

* * *

 

Gibbs heard the door open upstairs over the scraping of wood in his basement. He didn’t have to call out to ask who it was. He knew it would be Tony.

 

Blowing away some sawdust, he listened as footsteps crossed the floor above his head, pausing on the stairs leading down to the basement. There was a long stretch of silence.

 

“I’m not accepting your resignation, DiNozzo,” Gibbs said at last, not risking a glance at the motionless figure on the stairs.

 

After a moment, Tony said, “Good. Because I didn’t come here to give it to you.”

 

Gibbs heard rather than saw Tony descend the stairs and take a few tentative steps toward him. Setting down his tools, he leaned against the wood for support. “I don’t take agents on my team that I don’t think are qualified, not even at the request of the Director.”

 

Tony’s voice sounded confused. “But it was Morrow that hired me.”

 

“Yes,” Gibbs sat down on his workbench, still not willing to glance up at his younger companion. “Morrow hired you as an agent for NCIS, but I was the one who selected you for my team. There were a few other agents hired at the same time as you. I looked through all their files, past cases, family histories. Only one file stood out as being truly exceptional…yours. I went to Morrow and personally requested you to be assigned to my team. As soon as I met you, I knew that you would be the best agent I ever trained.”

 

“Then, why—?”

 

“Because I won’t let my feelings for you distort my judgment.” Gibbs finally turned and fixed the younger man with his usual icy blue stare, only this time it was open; revealing rather than elusive. “I check up on you because I worry about you. I push you harder than everyone else because you’re better than everyone else. I couldn’t treat you any better because then you’d get too close, and you’d find out that I—”

 

“How long?” Tony cut him off.

 

Gibbs’s gaze returned to the wall. “About two years.”

 

The younger agent stood still in stunned silence. He’d never had anyone stay interested that long. “What happens now?” he asked.

 

“Depends on what you want to happen, DiNozzo,” Gibbs replied.

 

Tony ran a hand through his hair. Confusion and emotions he’d never felt before were warring in his chest, seeking dominance. What he was feeling for his boss was much more complicated than anything he’d ever felt for any of his girlfriends.

 

On an impulse, he moved into Gibbs’s line of vision, leaned over, and hesitantly brushed his lips against his boss’s. The older man jerked back in surprise, eyes studying, calculating.

 

“You know what you’re doing?” he asked at last. “If not, go home, Tony. You start something right now, I’m not sure I’d be able to stop.”

 

Nodding to himself, he came to a decision. “I don’t want you to stop.” With that, he cupped his boss’s face in both hands and gently but firmly pressed their lips together.

 

Gibbs’s mouth was open in an instant in a silent invitation. Tony took the opportunity to taste the older man the way he’d done to him in the elevator. Gibbs tasted like bourbon—coffee, too. He decided he liked the combination.

 

Gibbs stood, wrapping his arms around the slightly taller, younger man. Tony gasped into their kiss as he felt his boss’s hard arousal next to his own.

 

“You done this before?” Gibbs asked suddenly.

 

Tony felt his face flush with embarrassment. “Not with another man.”

 

Gibbs only smiled. “Let’s move this upstairs, then.”

 

* * *

 

Later that night, in the comfort of his new lover’s arms, Tony sighed in contentment. Just as he was beginning to drift off into dreamland, Gibbs pressed his lips against the younger man’s ears, hot breath tickling.

 

“I don’t ever want you to think badly of yourself again, DiNozzo,” he whispered. “No matter how hard I may come down on you in the office, I want you to know that you’ll always be respected, appreciated, and most importantly, loved.”

 

Tony smiled. “I love you, too, boss.”


End file.
